Warmth
by knacc
Summary: Gaige wakes up cold and its not just because the ship she's sleeping on is chilly.


The one thing that no one would probably suspect about being intimate with Zer0 is that he's cold. And no, she doesn't mean he's distant or heartless because A. that is totally what people would guess and B. when it comes to her, he's quite the opposite really. She knows what people think about him and she knows what he's capable of (which is only slightly less awful than what people expect), has seen him slice guys in two for no reason except he's bored. And he really never does think twice about the people he's killed, never thinks about the wrong or right of it. He even gets off (not particularly sexually though, she's checked) on the thrill of the hunt, actually smiles and giggles as he kills people, likes to see the pain and gore he can cause. And yeah, Gaige likes a good fight too, likes to see how well her tech works and likes pushing herself to be a bigger badass but it's different, there are degrees when it comes to this stuff and Zer0 takes it way too far, into the maybe "you're actually a sociopath" territory really. Basically, he's a scary motherfucker and Gaige knows it better than anyone.

But when it comes to her and to a lesser extent the other vault hunters, he's really not like that at all. Sometimes, he gets this strange sort of softness to him. Like he'll listen to Sal's or Axton's stories, no matter how inane they are. Or he'll help one of his teammates up with nothing but a steady arm and some comforting words and it is super obvious he gives a fuck inspite of himself.

And when it comes to Gaige, he's even more obvious. He's all gentle touches and small smiles and constantly buzzing worry that's readable in every word and movement every time she does some awesome (aka dangerous). And sometimes, when they lay in bed together after sex, he'll run his hands through her hair and stare at her with this open look in his eyes like she's special, or precious. Like she's everything. And while Gaige hates to be thought of as anything but the total badass she is, even she can appreciate how amazing and impossible it is to be loved so much by someone who values almost no one.

So no, when she says he's cold, she means in temperature not in temperament. The thing no one tells you about having sweet robot limbs is that they aren't warm and they sure aren't cuddly. Sure the really nice ones attempt to maintain a constant temperature so that the inner mechanisms work at peak efficiency but warm enough to run is not the same as body warmth, not at all really and it becomes really obvious at night when they curl up to go to sleep.

Especially with the ships heater on the fritz and all. Like right now, it's probably like three in the morning and instead of being asleep like a normal person, she's up and thinking and all just because her dumb body decided it was too cold. She pulls the blankets tighter around herself before snuggling deeper into his embrace, trying to push herself closer to his chest and all his warm, pounding blood. Gaige once calculated exactly how much less blood Zer0 has than an average person and has ever since regretted it. She tries to not look worried in the relatively rare instances when he screws up and actually bleds, but with a tiny corner of her brain constantly estimating just how much he has left until he's dead, it's tricky. She's not a good liar and he knows her really well so he always, always knows and then he feels bad for worrying her and it becomes a whole thing when it could have been nothing if her brain had just been cool.

Gaige is shaking the memories away, hoping to think of something happier or to just stop thinking all together and go back to sleep when she feels Zer0 tense slightly against her back. And Gaige knows he's awake, knows he's doing the thing where he's awake but trying not to alert her and she knows it at least partially because he's awful at it. Zer0 is used to being sneaky but when it comes to her, he's really a bit of an open book and the worst part is he doesn't seem to know it. Gaige weighs stomping all over his ego against her desire to have someone to talk to and then says, "You awake?" quiet enough to not wake him up if he was actually still asleep.

She can feel him consider not answering her which she's definitely not going to let him get away with but after a minute he says, a hint of sleep making his voice low and gruff, "You think loud."

Gaige shakes her head, "I do not, you're just a light sleeper."

Zer0 ignores that and pulls her closer, running his hands idly across her arms and breasts, his chilly metal hands making her shiver and not just for the obvious reasons. A second later, he yanks his hands away and starts to climb over her and out of bed.

He's about to walk away when Gaige grabs his wrist. "Where do you think your going?"

"To get you blankets/ your temperature is too low/ you can't sleep like that." He doesn't turn around as he speaks but he lets her keep holding his wrist even though he could break her hold easily.

"I…", Gaige bites her lip and glances down at his bare feet, "already checked everywhere actually. You don't generally have many of what people call 'creature comforts' anyway though so I'm amazed I found as many as I did."

Zer0 turns around, eyeing the bed and the amount of blankets Gaige has piled up on her side and then sighs, "I'll fix it."

"I already tried that too, like right away actually. If there was a Macgyver fix for this, I would have found it already and you know it." She frowns, considering her words before adding, "We're going to need a new part and that means either covertly finding a dealer or stealing one and either way we're going to be coming out of hiding a month earlier than you'd planned and I know you hate that sort of stuff."

Zer0 only crinkles up his eyebrows for a second before saying, "Fine."

"Really?" Gaige squints her eyes in disbelief. "I thought this was going to be a tougher sell what with us trying to stay under the radar after that last hit and all."

Zer0 rolls his eyes, "How ridiculous/ you should be comfortable here/ it is your home too."

And it's true, this had been her home for almost six months now but to hear Zer0 say it so plainly, like its simple fact and not basically the thing that's overhauled his whole life, like she belong here case closed, well, it's sweet. Really sweet. Gaige can't help but smile up at him, all big and goofy. He looks at her for a moment and then smiles back just a little, his normal stoic expression shifting slightly to something gentle and pleased and damn if that's not magic, Gaige doesn't know what is. "You're really sweet sometimes," she beams, "you know that?"

He shakes his head, laughing a little and turns to leave.

She snatches his wrist again. "Now where are you going?"

"To grab you warm clothes."

Gaige pulls on his arm, turning him around slightly and props herself up so her boobs are peaking out from the blankets. His eyes flit down to look before focusing rather intently on her face. She wiggles her eyebrows and grins, "I can think of better ways to stay warm. Ones that requires no more clothing than we are wearing right now." She runs her eyes along his body, and yeah, he's interested, not that she was expecting anything different but seeing the kind of power she has over him is a nice feeling anyway.

He lets her pull him back to bed, and pushing the blankets aside, straddles her knees so he can kiss her. The kiss is eager and hot and yeah, his legs are still a bit on the cold side but right now, she's definitely not thinking about that at all. He pushes her hair aside, his lips wandering from her lips to her neck before whispering, low and horse, "This isn't a practical long term solution."

Gaige bursts out laughing, about ninety percent shocked out of being aroused. She smacks at his side gently. "Nooooo," she laughs, "Why would you do that? Don't you want to have hot sex?"

Zer0 pulls back and this time, his smile is mischievous. He wiggles his eyebrows once, kisses her on the lips and then works his way down and down and…

Gaige's dying laughter gets cut short as she inhales, short and sharp. "Oh god, you can't just ruin the mood and then go down on me. That's-" her breath hitches, "awful. You're cheating."

He doesn't stop what he's doing but she's pretty sure if his lips were less occupied, he'd look smug. Then he really starts to focus and Gaige lets out a little moan, grasping the crown of his head with her flesh hand as she loses herself to how good his lips and tongue feel on her. By the time they're finally settling down to sleep again an hour or so later, all thoughts of being cold are far from her mind.


End file.
